Consulting® APRIL 2018 21
innovations were possible and then have their
workers participate in experiential learning on
the model factory’s advanced production lines.

That model helped McKinsey zero in on two
longstanding and pervasive consulting challenges, Simon notes:
1) Getting clients to think big
enough in terms of the scope of improvements
and services they should commit to; and 2)
Helping clients achieve the behavioral and
mindset shifts necessary to sustain the improvements after the engagement concluded.

This offsite offering, Simon adds, hit upon a“sweet spot” of providing something familiar forclients to relate to (e.g., a production line, albeita state-of-the-art one) while getting clients “farenough from their own world so that they canthink differently.”The current crop of more broadly-focused in-novation centers are carefully architected to helpclients think differently, thanks to their sleek de-sign and impressive technology offerings – andalso to the condensed product- and solution-development sessions that many firms conductwith clients. Rather than serving the purpose ofsustaining improvements, many of these activi-ties are designed to give clients a taste of thelonger and larger collaborations and projects thatfirms want to take place once their intensive ses-sion within the innovation center concludes.

Trebino describes a consumer products clientthat visited a KMPG ignition center to discuss aprocurement challenge. As the ignition consult-ants listened to and probed the problem, theybrought in colleagues with other forms of ex-pertise—including data analytics, digital visuali-zation and tax technology—to contribute to thebrainstorming session. A challenge that the cli-ent initially thought centered on procurement ef-ficiency turned out to be larger, and the potentialsolutions featured some alluring tax-planningopportunities. Trebino notes that the work insidethe ignition center frequently starts with a clientproblem or idea, or even the rapid developmentof a prototype, and then progresses to an actualclient-site implementation as well as post-imple-mentation support.

EY’s recent wavespace engagements include
helping an agricultural company’s IT function
develop new digital capabilities while embracing agile implementation; helping numerous
healthcare and life sciences stakeholders rethink
the cancer-treatment supply chain; and guiding a
number of client teams through activities related
to blockchain and digital corporate finance opportunities.

The primary focus of BCG’s ICOs is to deliver an interactive Industry 4.0 experience for visitors, according to Rachidi. A client team from
an industrial good company recently visited one
of BCG’s innovation centers in hopes of gaining a more comprehensive and precise overview
on market opportunities, including those related
to 3D printing, in additive manufacturing. The
team left the ICO with a list of potential acquisition targets, a business strategy for launching a
new technology offering and a roadmap for implementing the new strategy.

Key Measures andLong-Term Questions

The comparatively narrower focus of BCG’s
ICOs (companies with manufacturing operations and vendors with offerings in those areas)
enables Rachidi and his colleagues to deploy a
mix of high-level and specific success measures.
While noting that clients who participate in ICO
activities achieve improvements in their data
infrastructure and governance structures, Rachidi also says that the purpose of the ICO is to
help global companies notch more quantifiable
improvements, such as productivity gains and
ramp-up time reductions.